Hydrangea Study Step by Step

I made a very weak effort at a loose hydrangea on the workshop I did with Jean Haines earler this year and realised I had a lot of work to do so I hope she will be pleased with this as I think it shows some progress!!!

I started with a wash of Windsor Violet, Pthalo turquoise and a touch of Alizarin Crimson (wouldn't use the red again might try a different colour eg Opera Rose). I let the paints run and added more water to let everything flow across the paper, moving the paper around to allow mixing in the direction I wanted which was a sort of diagonal top right to bottom left..... then left to dry.

I could already see a few opportunities for creating a couple of petals so added one or two centres and a touch of negative painting to define one of the edges then allowed to dry again. At this stage I am adding water all the time to soften edges and trying to keep the whole thing quite diffused, washing the edges away in the diagonal flow I started with.

Going on to define more edges with stronger paint... you can see the shape starting to form now as I add little touches of paint here and there.

I added a touch of Alizarin crimson around the centre of the flower to tie it in with the spots I had put above but am not liking that colour within the piece. Again more of the same, gently defining and washing away to build up the centre slowly. It is very important to let the paint dry between applications, there is a big difference in effect between applying the paint wet in wet and applying water to paint added wet on dry.... the second way in this piece produces a lovely mix of hard and soft edges whereas paint applied wet in wet will give you a soft muted effect which isn't what I want on here.

Just subtle changes here, continuing to build up the petals, painting negatively around them but also inviting the colour into the petals in parts as well. I have also added some Ub to the palette as I felt it was needed, now don't ask me why, I just thought it needed warming up a bit.

Have created one or two more petals... at this stage it is a question of stepping back and looking at the composition to see what it needs to possibly balance it out and make it look pleasing to the eye.Have also gone in quite dark now and I must admit it looks a bit fierce, but hopefully this will be tempered when I start to add the other darks around the petals

Some very dark spots now added to the petals to define one or two of them a bit more, need to consider at this stage does the composition work and do I need to add more to the bg... feel I might need to add a touch bottom right. Am liking the way the light has been caught around the top left of the flower head and want to keep that area just as it is

Decided the bg looked a little too dark so washed out some of that area and added a bit all over the bottom right of the bg and left side of the flower head and prefer the more subtle look to this now. Am going to leave this for a few days and see if I think it needs anything else.

The actual study hasn't taken log to paint, it is the drying which takes the time and for once I did leave this between washes to thoroughly dry so that I didn't get any nasty muddy areas... it always helps to have more than one painting on the go so that you can be working on one while another dries....

A lot of this way of working is what I have learned from Jean Haines, I have seen her demonstrate twice, been to a workshop and have both her DVD's and books, a big thank you Jean!!!  You will find a review of her book here Review.  The book is fantastic and I have learned so much from it... whenever I want to do some practice exercises I reach for it and am lost for hours!!